Through a Fractured Looking Glass
by KrissyKat91
Summary: When Alice Kingsley returns to Underland, she finds Iracebeth of Crims has enslaved Underland and turned most of Alice's friends against her. Now Alice must race to Gryphon's Point to learn the location of the one artifact with the power to free everyone from Iracebeth's iron grip, with only Chessur the Cheshire Cat to guide her. But the Cat has problems of his own. MORE INSIDE.
1. Prologue: Home Again

KrissyKat91: Once upon a time, KrissyKat91 started to write an "Alice returns to Wonderland" story. She had the prologue, the first chapter, and part of the second chapter done when tragedy struck. Her laptop crashed, and since she wasn't in the habit of backing up her hard drive very often, she lost a lot of stories. So now, she is going to try to rewrite some, and hope they come out as good the second time around.

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EXTENDED SYNOPSIS: When a strange dream prompts Alice Kingsley to return to Underland several years after she last left it, she finds Iracebeth of Crims has returned, along with a dangerous new ally known only as the Hypnotist. With his help she has enslaved Underland and turned most of Alice's friends against her. Now Alice must race to Gryphon's Point to learn the location of the Heart of Underland, the one artifact with the power to free everyone from Iracebeth's iron grip, with only Chessur the Cheshire Cat to guide her. But the Cat has problems of his own.

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Prologue: Home Again

Twenty-five-year-old Alice Kingsleigh stretched as she stood on the deck of the _S. S. Elizabeth._

It had been six years since she had left for China, six long years since she had been on English soil. She honestly couldn't say she had missed it. She'd been happy in the Orient, happier than she could ever recall being. The only reason she was even returning was because her father's dream had finally been realized, and she no longer had an excuse to stay.

"Miss Kingsleigh?"

Blinking, Alice turned to face the captain.

"If you would be so kind as to go below deck and ascertain that all your luggage is packed, we shall be docking in a little over half an hour."

"Thank you," Alice murmured, the English words sounding odd after such a long time of only speaking and hearing Mandarin Chinese.

After watching the ocean for a few more minutes, the blonde woman turned to go back to her quarters, only to stumble as her vision was suddenly filled with an image of Chessur the Cheshire Cat, running down a path in the Tulgy Wood, distinctive grin absent and eyes wild with terror.

An instant later, everything returned to normal. Alice goggled at nothing for a moment, then shook her head. She couldn't have just seen what she thought she saw. It simply wasn't possible.

Nodding firmly to herself, Alice hurried down the stairs to her quarters, forgetting, for the moment, that nearly everything in Underland could be considered impossible to those from the Above.


	2. The Dream

KrissyKat91: I don't own Alice in Wonderland (although I certainly wouldn't mind owning Chessur). And I wish I could make these chapters longer, but I don't know how without adding unnecessary rambling.

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Ch. 1: The Dream

Alice groaned softly as she stumbled into her bedroom, dragging her luggage along behind her. She loved her mother dearly, but the elder Kingsleigh woman simply did not know when to stop talking! If she had to hear one more lecture about propriety and acting the part of high class lady, Alice was fairly certain she would scream.

Yawning, Alice dropped her bags, kicked off her shoes, and flopped face first, still fully dressed, onto her bed, asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.

~/Dream Sequence/~

_Alice opened her eyes in a strange, dark red void, finding herself seemingly standing on nothing, blue-lilac smoke curling around her feet. Blinking confusedly, she looked around, wondering where she was and how she had gotten there._

"_**Child."**_

_The deep voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Alice spun around, trying to locate the owner of the voice. There was no one there._

"_**Child."**_

"_Hello?" she called. "Who's there?"_

"_**Child, Underland needs you. Trust only the Cat, he will assist you. Trust no one else, for they would betray you, though through no fault of their own. Find the Gryphon. He will help you."**_

"_Absolem? Is that you?"_

"_**Wake up, child. Hurry!"**_

"_Wait! Who are you? Why would the others betray me?"_

"_**Wake up, Alice! WAKE UP!"**_

~/End Dream Sequence/~

"Alice, wake up!"

"Who—what—huh?"

Helen Kingsleigh was leaning over her bed, looking concerned. "You were talking in your sleep, something about someone betraying you. Was it the dream again?"

"The dream?" Alice asked, then remembered. "Oh! Oh, no, I actually haven't had that dream since I set sail for China. This was—I don't remember."

Helen blinked bemusedly. "Very well. If you're sure. Dinner is in half an hour. I've invited Lord Ascot and his family, so please dress appropriately." She cast a pointed look at her daughter's badly wrinkled travel clothes, then exited the room.

Alice grimaced at the idea of having to deal with Hamish Ascot again, then turned her attention to her dream. She had long since learned not to ignore anything to do with Underland (which made her wince at the memory of dismissing the image of Chessur she saw on the ship), but she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do about it.

It would take far too long to get to the rabbit hole behind Lady Ascot's maze garden on horseback, never mind on foot, and she ran the risk running into the Ascots either way. She didn't know how else to—

Alice's thoughts screeched to a halt. She _did_ know another way into Underland. How could she have forgotten?

Eyes narrowing, she slowly turned to stare at the looking glass in the corner of her room. It had been years, but it should still work. And it would allow her to bypass that bothersome Hall of Doors as well.

Walking over to the looking glass, Alice pulled the sheet off and gave it an experimental poke.

The reflective surface rippled.

Nodding once to herself, Alice turned back to her luggage. If she was going back to Underland, she was not going unprepared. Not this time.


End file.
